DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The Applicant’s amendment filed on October 27, 2025 was received. Claims 1 and 10 were amended and claims 23-25 were newly added.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S.C. code not included in this action can be found in the prior Office action issued March 26, 2025.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on November 21, 2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-9, 21 and 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 1 has been amended to require the controller to control the elevator “so as to adjust the height of the outer cup and the supporter” which is not supported by the instant disclosure as filed. There is no apparent disclosure of the controller or elevator adjusting the height of the supporter itself directly, as now claimed. In fact, there seems to be no discussion whatsoever of any mechanism capable of changing the height of the support unit.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Uchida (KR 20190029439, translation attached on March 26, 2025 used for citation purposes) on claims 1, 10 and 21-22 are withdrawn because Applicant amended claims 1 and 10 to require the controller to adjust the height of the outer cup specifically according to a warpage of the substrate, rather than the relative height between the treating container and the supporter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1-2, 9-11 and 21-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uchida.
Regarding claim 1: Uchida discloses a substrate processing apparatus (30) within a chamber and having a control unit (200), the chamber including a cup body (360) which is a treating container having an outer cup (361), inner cup (362) and ring member (382), the cup body (360) having an inner space to house a spin chuck (300) which is a support unit, as well as a liquid supply unit comprising a developer nozzle (320) and a rinsing nozzle (330), further including multiple elevating portions (363, 383) designed to adjust a relative height between the various surfaces of the cup body (360)- including the outer cup (361), inner cup (362) and ring member (382)- and the spin chuck (300) based on the measured bending or warpage of the wafer (W) being treated, such that the control unit (200) controls this relative height by way of the elevating portions (363, 383) according to the determined bending or warpage of the wafer (W) (pages 6-8, figures 1-5, 7). Uchida further discloses that the outer cup (361) surrounds the inner cup (362) which surrounds the spin chuck (300) (see figure 4). Furthermore, the ring member (382) itself, can itself be considered to be the inner cup.
Uchida fails to explicitly disclose that the heights of the outer cup (361) itself and the spin chuck (300) are adjusted according to the warpage of the substrate. However, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the two elevating portions (363, 383) into one mechanism because simple integration of parts is not considered to be a patentable advance (MPEP 2144.04) and doing so would optimize the available space and parts needed. Doing so would lift the outer cup (361) along with the ring (382) according to the warpage of the substrate, as discussed above. Uchida also discloses that the spin chuck (300) can be moved up or down (page 6) and therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to try changing the height of the spin chuck (300) as well as the cup and ring because Uchida discloses that the height of the wafer (W) based on its warpage affects the liquid seal of the ring (382) (pages 6-8, figures 1-5, 7).
Regarding claim 2: Uchida discloses that a reference height value is determined for a flat wafer (W) such that the top of the spin chuck (300) is below the top of the cup (360) by a certain distance when the wafer (W) is flat relative to the ground, and when the wafer (W) is in a convex shape on the lower side thereof the elevating portion (383) lifts the ring member (382) of the cup (360) (pages 7-10, figures 4 and 7). In the above modification, the cup (360) along with the ring (382) are lifted when the wafer (W) is in the convex arrangement such that the top of the chuck (300) would be below the reference height (see figure 4).
Regarding claim 9: Uchida discloses that the liquid supply unit includes a rinsing nozzle (330) which is a cleaning nozzle configured to discharge a cleaning solution, and in the above modification would lift or lower the cup (360) such that the location where the rinse liquid would spin off of the wafer (W) would be the same whether the wafer (W) was in a flat state or a convex state (page 9, figures 4 and 7).
Regarding claim 10: Uchida discloses a substrate processing system (1) which is a treating module having a cassette station (10) which is an index module having mounting plates (21) for mounting wafer cassettes (C), a third block (G3) which is a buffer chamber for temporarily housing wafers, transfer devices (70) within a transfer chamber for moving the wafers between the four blocks (G1, G2, G3, G4), the second block (G2) including heat treatment apparatuses (40) for heating and cooling the wafers, the first block (G1) including a plurality of liquid processing apparatuses (30-33) supplying a coating or developing liquid to the wafers, a controller (200) configured to control the system (1), where the liquid processing apparatuses (30) include a chamber with a cup body (360) which is a treating container having an outer cup (361), inner cup (362) and ring member (382), the cup body (360) having an inner space to house a spin chuck (300) which is a support unit, as well as a liquid supply unit comprising a developer nozzle (320) and a rinsing nozzle (330), further including multiple elevating portions (363, 383) designed to adjust a relative height between the various surfaces of the cup body (360) - including the outer cup (361), inner cup (362) and ring member (382)- and the spin chuck (300) based on the measured bending or warpage of the wafer (W) being treated, such that the control unit (200) controls this relative height by way of the elevating portions (363, 383) according to the determined bending or warpage of the wafer (W) (pages 3-8, figures 1-5, 7). Uchida further discloses that the outer cup (361) surrounds the inner cup (362) which surrounds the spin chuck (300) (see figure 4).
Uchida fails to explicitly disclose that the height of the outer cup (361) itself is adjusted according to the warpage of the substrate. However, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the two elevating portions (363, 383) into one mechanism because simple integration of parts is not considered to be a patentable advance (MPEP 2144.04) and doing so would optimize the available space and parts needed. Doing so would lift the outer cup (361) along with the ring (382) according to the warpage of the substrate, as discussed above.
Regarding claim 11: Uchida discloses that a reference height value is determined for a flat wafer (W) such that the top of the spin chuck (300) is below the top of the cup (360) by a certain distance when the wafer (W) is flat relative to the ground, and when the wafer (W) is in a convex shape on the lower side thereof the elevating portion (383) lifts the ring member (382) of the cup (360) (pages 7-10, figures 4 and 7). In the above modification, the cup (360) along with the ring (382) are lifted when the wafer (W) is in the convex arrangement such that the top of the chuck (300) would be below the reference height (see figure 4).
Regarding claims 21-22: Uchida discloses that the outer cup (361) is controlled to be lifted such that liquid scattered by the shape of the wafer (W) can be adequately received (page 7, par. 2).
Regarding claim 23: Uchida discloses that the both the inner cup (362) and the ring member (382), which can be considered to correspond to the claimed inner cup, extend under the spin chuck (300) and into a cavity defined by the outer cup (361), the outer cup (361) being integral and including an inclined portion above the inner cup (362) and ring member (382), with one side portion extending vertically and a bottom stepped portion (361a) extending under the inner cup (362) and ring member (382) (see figure 4). Uchida further discloses a discharge pipe (371) located at the bottom portion of the outer cup (361a) which can be considered a recovery line as it recovers the gas and liquid discharged from the cups (figure 4).
Regarding claim 24: Uchida shows that both the inner cup (362) and ring member (382) have outer portions that vertically overlap and extend downwardly to the opening of the discharge pipe (371) (figure 4).
Regarding claim 25: Uchida discloses two elevating portions (363, 383), one of which (383) is connected to the ring member (383), and by way of the inclined face also connected to the vertical face thereof, and the other of which (363) is connected to the vertical face of the outer cup (361) by way of the stepped bottom portion (361a) (figure 4).
Claims 3-8 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Uchida as applied to claims 1-2, 9-11 and 21-25 above and further in view of Hwang et al. (US 2021/0028034).
Regarding claim 3: Uchida discloses that the apparatus further includes a block (G2) that has heat treatment apparatuses (40) for heating and cooling the wafer (W) (pages 3-4, figures 1-3). Uchida fails to explicitly disclose that the warpage state of the wafer (W) is measured in the heat treatment apparatus (40). However, Hwang et al. discloses a similar apparatus in which a wafer heating apparatus (100) includes a heating plate (110) connected to at least two different regions (CR, ER) having power supplies (131, 133) controlled by temperature controllers (121, 123) which generate temperature control signals (TCS1, TCS2) and feedback temperature control signals (FTCS2, FTCS2) to send to another controller (140) which uses those signals to calculate the warpage of the wafer (W) (pars. 25-26, 37-44, figures 1-2). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a heating apparatus as taught by Hwang et al. for the heat treatment apparatus (40) of Uchida because Hwang et al. teaches that this helps identify warpage to allow for more precise heating and processing (pars. 3-4 and 9).
Regarding claim 4: Uchida and Hwang et al. disclose the above combination in which the heating apparatus (100) includes the heating plate (110) with two different region (CR, ER) controlled by two separate power supplies (131, 133), the power supplies (131, 133) also including meters (132, 134) to sense the power output as well as temperature sensors (113) both of which can be considered sensors that measure each region-specific temperature parameter of the wafer (W), and further where the controller (140) is a detector that uses the input signals relating to these temperature parameters to determine the warpage state of the wafer (W) (Hwang et al. pars. 37, 44, 55-57, figures 1-2).
Regarding claim 5: Uchida and Hwang et al. disclose the above combination in which the two heating regions (CR, ER) are connected to separate power supplies (131, 133) such that they can be considered two heaters configured to heat a central region (CR) and edge region (ER) respectively, the sensors including meters (132, 134) as discussed above which send signals relating to the power output (O1, O2) of the power supplies (131, 133) to the controller (140) to determine the warpage of the wafer (W) (Hwang et al. pars. 9, 38, 55-57, figures 1-2).
Regarding claim 6: Uchida and Hwang et al. disclose the above combination in which the controller (140) determines a warpage state based on comparing power output values from the center region against the edge region, where a wafer having warpage has a significantly higher power output in the central region than the edge region (see Hwang et al. table 2).
Regarding claim 7: Uchida and Hwang et al. teach that the heater is activated before the wafer (W) is loaded onto the plate (110) such that the power output is being measured both before and immediately after the wafer (W) is loaded (Hwang et al. par. 70-80, figures 3-4).
Regarding claim 8: Uchida discloses that the nozzle (320) supplies developer solution and not photoresist (page 6), however Uchida does disclose that the apparatus also includes a number of other liquid supply apparatuses including resist coating devices (32), but does not explicitly disclose that they have the same construction as the development processing apparatuses (30). However, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the same chamber construction for all of the liquid processing apparatuses because simple duplication of parts is not considered to be a patentable advance (MPEP 2144.04). Therefore, the same processing apparatus (30) described above can be used for either resist coating, development or antireflective film coating thus enhancing flexibility of the module. Additionally, using a known apparatus suitable for a particular purpose such as liquid coating for another disclosed liquid coating step (i.e. resist coating in device 32) such that the generic resist coating device (32) is substituted with the above device (30) is not considered to be a patentable advance (MPEP 2143, 2144.06).
Regarding claim 12: Uchida discloses the heat treatment apparatuses (40) for heating and cooling the wafer (W) (pages 3-4, figures 1-3). Uchida fails to explicitly disclose that the warpage state of the wafer (W) is measured in the heat treatment apparatus (40), or the specific arrangement of the heater. However, Hwang et al. discloses a similar apparatus in which a wafer heating apparatus (100) includes a heating plate (110) connected to at least two different regions (CR, ER) having individual power supplies (131, 133) controlled by temperature controllers (121, 123) such that they can be considered independent heaters, the controllers (121, 123) generating temperature control signals (TCS1, TCS2), feedback temperature control signals (FTCS2, FTCS2) and power outputs (O1, O2) measured by meters (132, 134) which are sensors that send the outputs to a controller (140) which is a detector that uses those signals to calculate the warpage of the wafer (W), such that a wafer determined to have warpage has a significantly higher power output in the central region than the edge region (pars. 9, 25-26, 37-44, 55-57, figures 1-2). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a heating apparatus as taught by Hwang et al. for the heat treatment apparatus (40) of Uchida because Hwang et al. teaches that this helps identify warpage to allow for more precise heating and processing (pars. 3-4 and 9).
Regarding claim 13: Uchida discloses that the liquid supply unit includes a rinsing nozzle (330) which is a cleaning nozzle configured to discharge a cleaning solution, and in the above modification would lift or lower the cup (360) such that the location where the rinse liquid would spin off of the wafer (W) would be the same whether the wafer (W) was in a flat state or a convex state (page 9, figures 4 and 7).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed October 27, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant primarily argues that modifying Uchida to combine the two elevating portions into one would be a change in the principle of operation of Uchida and as such is not an obvious modification.
In response:
Applicant’s argument appears to mischaracterize the principle of operation of Uchida. Uchida uses two separate elevating mechanisms to perform two different lifting operations at two different times, and modifying the two mechanisms to be operated together, or as one mechanism, does not in any way alter the functionality of either operation. The outer cup (361) is lifted when the developer solution D is rinsed off, which happens either before or after the ring member (382) is moved either way, so that each operation does not interfere with the other. Therefore the principle of operation is not changed whatsoever. Even further, combining the two lifting mechanisms into one does not necessarily mean that the ring member cannot be moved independently for fine adjustments, simply that one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to try reducing the complexity of the arrangement so that movement of both together is one potential choice for rearranging the location of the ring. This change does not in any way destroy the functionality of Uchida or change its principle of operation, only a small and relatively unimportant detail about the specific mechanical operation of two distinct process steps.
Conclusion
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/S.A.K/
Stephen KittExaminer, Art Unit 1717
1/23/2026
/Dah-Wei D. Yuan/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1717